1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an adapter for a printed circuit board testing apparatus and more particularly to an adapter which has testing contacts located in a grid and which can be connected through adapter pins to testing points located in and/or out of the grid, of a printed circuit to be tested.
2. Description of the Related Art
Adapters of the type to which this invention relates have a first and a second guide plate, which are arranged parallel to one another and at a distance from one another and have guide holes for the adapter pins, into which the adapter pins can be plugged, in which case the guide holes in the first guide plate are arranged in the grid and in the second guide plate in the pattern of the testing points of the printed circuit to be tested.
An adapter of this type is the subject matter of a prior proposal of the applicant, which comprises the fitting-out of such an adapter both for machine assembly as well as for manual assembly of the adapter. With the embodiment for machine assembly a particular orientation device for the adapter pins is allocated to the adapter, which limits their excursion movements on the introduction of the adapter pins into the guide holes. With the embodiment for manual assembly the adapter is allocated an optically acting additional device, through which the introduction of the adapter pins is made easier.
For adapters of the present type, the requirement exists that, to avoid short circuits, the adapter pins must not touch each other. With the given grid dimensions and necesssary dimensions for the adapter pins, for the guide hole diameter and for the thickness of the guide plates, as well as the distance between the same, the above requirement is not easy to fulfill. As well, it must be taken into account that the adapter pins should be as easy as possible to introduce.